Friday, January 1, 1965: Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales, host of a children's program on WNEW-TV in New York, tells his young viewers:

"Hey, kids, last night was New Year's Eve and your mom and dad were out having a good time and it's only right, since they work hard all year long. And they're probably still in the bedroom asleep. Now, what I want you to do is tiptoe into the bedroom and don't wake them up and you'll probably see your mom's pocketbook on the floor along with your dad's pants. Now, be real careful, because we don't want to wake them up, but I want you to go into your mom's pocketbook and your dad's pants and you'll find some little green pieces of paper with pictures of guys with beards on them. Now, what I want you to do is take those little pieces of green paper and put them into an envelope, and on the envelope, I want you to write Soupy Sales, Channel 5, New York, New York, and you know what I'm gonna send you in return? A postcard from Puerto Rico."

A week and a half later, after station executives learn that a woman has complained to the Federal Communications Commission, Sales is suspended from the show for several days. (Accounts vary as to how much he actually received in the mail.) The incident only increases his popularity.

-- Quote from the 2001 book "Soupy Sez!" 

* Summary (www.snopes.com): @

* Summary (www.tvacres.com): @

* Sales recounts the incident (video, 1993): @ 
* "A Little 'Good, Clean Violence' Beneficial, Says Soupy Sales" (Associated Press, May 1965): @

* Obituary (New York Times, 2009): @ 

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